When I was struggling with this piece, a very good teaching by Martha Graham came my way. It stated that when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman often leaves a flaw in the blanket to let the soul out. That is a point particularly poignant to the perfectionist in me that would want to go back to a piece obsessively, over and over, after considering it “done”, because the perspective is not exactly right, or the color mixture should be tuned just slightly to give a better glow, etc., etc…. Looking at most of those “fixed” pieces I have to admit they do not appear that much “better” than the previous version, most even lost much vitality from the touching and retouching of the artist’s hand after it has formed as a whole. Not that I consider a “flaw” in a piece should not be corrected or adjusted, but perhaps the lesson for me here is that there is a time and place for that, when the idea of the painting is still fresh in my mind and can be conveyed without beating it to death. Past that time, it is better to acknowledge the imperfection and let go, keep the flaw and the soul of the piece that comes out with it, than to weave a perfect prison shackling that vitality to its painful demise…